Does anyone play flute?

[MaestroX]

Does anyone play flute? I'm having trouble finding any information on flute foot joints (to get low b) for my research on creating the article in the Music-Web Encyclopedia.

[Thorolf]

Flutes are genreally delivered with a “build to order” spesification, so in generel, you just buy a complete flute with either a C or a B foot.

Some info here: http://www.flutepage.de/englisch/goodies/technik.shtml

On the other hand, head joints are easily interchangeable, and you can make a non-silver flute sound substantially better using a silver head joint.

Regards

[MaestroX]

Thanks for the info, I will hopefully be able to get this article done to good quality

[Shiva]

I can play the flute, here and there. Not alot though! I find it quite difficult to get the continuous flow of air going through the flute.

[MaestroX]

Hi there, I don't play the flute, but my girlfriend does. As I know getting continuous flow of air going through the flute is a matter of practice and breathing from your diaphragm.

A little exercise I know is to practive blowing a piece of paper against a wall and keep it there as long as possible. Keep doing it a couple of times a day and your breathing will improve.

Hope this helps

[Thorolf]

It’s also a matter of finding the core of the flute’s focus. If you blow just a little bit off, you generally use approx. twice the air needed or more. Failing to find the core focus of the notes, can be due to a leaky, bumpy, og generally low quality/badly maintained flute, but also lack of skill by the player. I suggest you get the best from both worlds, not wasting time (sorry, MaestroX ) blowing paper to the wall, but just aiming for the core focus of tones, and just play long, sustained notes, in all levels of loudness, and all over the register.



Regards

[MaestroX]

No problem, I'm no flute player, just little things I picked up from a few teachers in my time. Funny thing though I ended up teaching the flute while the teacher was away, lol. I managed to bluff my way through the lesson and the pupil went away happy

[mystic_monkey]

Wow! I play flute, so if you need any help I do know a bit about them! This thread has been really helpful- I have been inspired to blow paper against a wall (no, seriously, I will!) and hopefully that wil make my technique better! Does anyone know an easy way to double, triple and flutter tongue by the way?

[MaestroX]

Double, triple and flutter touging is suppose to be quite managable on the flute very difficult on single reed instruments.

Double touging requires you to form syllables with their toungue whilst blowing such as 'ta-ka, ta-ka, ta-ka' (or 'da-ka') in order to create very rapid articulation. Triple tonguing would involve repeating a pattern such as 'ta-ka-ta' to group notes in threes.

Not all players can do flutter tonguing. Those that cannot have to 'fake' with a throat flutter that sounds less effective, more of a rumbling sound than a crisp 'rrrrrrrrrrrr'.

[Gryvix]

Ah tongueing,
one thing you should do is to practice your single tongueing wel before you do the rest.(I don't know your skill at single tonguing)
What I did is this:
you start at around 80: you do 4 groups of four sixteenth notes at C. Then 8 groups at D, 12 groups of E, 16 groups of F, and so on. Each day set the tempo a little higher(80-82-84-86...) you should try to get it to 120 or higher.
When you are starting to get tired, crampy just hold on! This is when you are training your tongue.
Also a nice method is when walking you tongue also sixteenth notes.
Try not to use the tip of your tongue but a bit more in the back.(it will be easier for double and triple tongueing)

Now on to double:
I, personally rarely use it, because I have very fast single tongueing, but nevertheless I know how to learn it and use it.
Most books say Ta-Ka, I'd say tu-ku or te-ke because your tongue is automatically in the right position then.
just try it without the instrument first. tu-ku-tu articulating each part very securely. now accenting several parts of it. first TU-ku-tu, then tu-KU-tu, then tu-ku-TU. "tu-KU-tu" is the hardest since you learn a new way of articulating and should be practiced vigorously.

After practising just that a week or so, try it on your instrument. just tu-ku-tu nothing more, also with the accents. practice it from slow to fast, on different notes, do a scale or such)
then try tu-ku-tu-ku-tu. then 3 groups of tu-ku's, 4 groups of tu-ku's and then try them for long.
Also try to practice using solely the ku no tu's.
Double tongueing is only to be used in dual time signatures(2/4 3/4 4/4 2/2...)(except for triplets)

Triple tongueing should be practiced only after you've mastered double tongueing, this to avoid confusion and mixture of both techniques.
same principle but on tu te ku (practice with tu te ku tu) from slow to fast, adding more groups. only be used in triple time signatures(?) (6/8 9/8 12/8...)(except for duplets)